Forever And Always
by Maya Beebop
Summary: Nny contemplates a high school romance he had.
1. Forever And Always

Nny kept it simple. When he had met this girl, Danni, in the senior year at high school, they went through a whirlwind love that seemed to never grow dull. But then, things made a turn for the worse.

Danni hated the cheerleading squad. So it was only natural, that while playing a game of Truth of Dare at a party, someone dared her to join. Danni being Danni, she did it.

At a squad meet, a guy came up to her. A good-looking guy. He asked Danni if she'd go out with him. At first, Danni couldn't say anything. Then, after the initial surprise, she said yes.

Danni and Nny were still an item. This would constitute as cheating. But since no other people knew, she expected it to go fine. How wrong she was.

Back to the present. Nny stood there, gawking at the two in a hot teen spot, the Diner. They had just come out of a long French kiss, and also were staring at him.

"Danni…oh my god…Danni!" Nny was disbelief.

"Oh, Nny! I…I…I w-w-was going to tell you, b-b-but…"

Nny straightened up and walked out, with his eyes misty.

"Nny! Please talk to me! I swear, it wasn't what you thought!"

He wouldn't even turn around. He didn't want to hear her lies.

She caught his arm. "Nny, please! I'm moving the day after tomorrow! I'm not going to be in school tomorrow! Won't you please come out of the slump and hear what I've got to say?" Danni was desperate.

"Why should I? How long had this been going on, Danni?" Nny started. 

"Oh, but you don't-"

"HOW LONG, DAMMIT?!"

Danni looked at her feet. "Two months."

Nny couldn't even look at her now. He remembered how he used to ask her how long she'd love him, and she'd always answer, "Forever and always."

"Nny, please believe me. I didn't want it to be this way. I don't have an excuse, and even if I did, I wouldn't expect you to accept it." She was talking to his back now. "It was my fault, and I'm sorry. You don't have to accept it, in fact, I don't want you to. I've been too much of a self-absorbed person and didn't think about how you'd feel when I said yes."

Nny blinked away the tears, but he couldn't stop one from rolling invisibly down his cheek. The last bell rang.

"I'll miss you, Nny. Forever and always…"

Nny turned around, but she had already disappeared in the flood of students that had consumed the hallway's empty space.

He tried to call her, but the phone had already been disconnected. He went over to her house, but no one was home. She had disappeared.


	2. For Love of Him

Nny still couldn't find her. That day and the next day rolled by. Then, on the third day, he heard something.

He heard the name Danni.

It was on TV.

A reported on the local news listed something. Nny couldn't make out what it was.

"In recent news, a local eighteen-year-old girl named Danni Harper committed suicide in her home two days ago."

Nny gawked. There, on the TV screen, for the entire nation to see, was Danni's high school picture. How happy she looked, how carefree.

Nny spent the rest of the day consoling himself with Cherry Doom brainfreezies.

A letter arrived for Nny. Not that it was the letter itself, but just the fact that he had received a letter was amazing.

Opening it slowly, he recognized the paper and handwriting. _Mrs. Harper._ He reached in and pulled out a note.

_Nny, we hope that you are feeling well. But since the recent tragedy, we feel inclined to ask you to the wake of our dearest Danniella. Please come, it would mean so much to both of us._

Mr. and Mrs. Harper

Nny stared at the paper. Wake? They were inviting him to her _wake_? Nny hated wakes where you saw the lifeless person lying there in the open casket.

Once, Nny had gone to a wake. He was little then, and two other boys decided to play a trick on him. One hid behind the casket and waited. The other led Nny up to the coffin and told him to look in. When Nny did, the body seemed to be reaching up for him, and the eyes were wide open. The boy in the back had tricked him and frightened poor Nny into the nearest bathroom.

He didn't want to go, but the next week, there he was, in the back of the church, listening to the eulogy. Even the speech about how sweet and caring and loving she was didn't help him.

_Sweet? Caring? Is that guy talking about the same girl who played me for a fool for two months? Who promised me a lie?_

But even Nny heart was softened when Mrs. Harper got up there and dedicated her life to helping other teens come out of a suicidal slump, for Danni's sake.

The wake was over soon, and Nny walked up to the casket. There lay Danni, looking like a princess in her beautiful plum purple gown. Her hair was done up nice, make-up put on. But Nny knew that there was something missing. Something that lay underneath the skin. Underneath the makeup she couldn't feel. Underneath the dress that she would never register as her being clothed in.

Nny reached down and stroked her face. Amid tears and sobs, he turned around. There was just one man left, talking to an ancient woman. The man seemed to glow with an internal light, as did the woman. Nny could never believe it, but he could swear he saw them begin to disappear. As they were almost gone, he heard the man's voice.

"She did not do this for herself. She loved him. And she hurt him deeply, although he would never know it. This, she knew, would be the only thing that would heal him. She killed herself for him. For love of him."


	3. Holly Berries

It was Christmas Eve. Nny sat in the kitchen with a revolver gripped tightly in his hands. "I have no one, want no one, and care for no one. I'm not staying on this grimy, filthy planet just in spite of myself. I've gone THROUGH that revelation. I'm going OVER the stars…" He let one tear roll down his cheek and die on the corner of his lips.

Nny raised the barrel to his head. As he braced himself, something happened that would change the way that Nny would look at the world. He heard a sound.

It came from the family room. Nny raced in to see nothing except his bare, deformed, scrawny Christmas tree. But it was what was under the tree that did it.

A simple cardboard box with a letter on top sat there. Nny had never put it there, and there certainly wasn't' anyone who would have. Or was there?

He approached the box gingerly, as it conspicuously sat there, looking innocent. He reached out with one claw-like hand and slowly opened it. Inside was a spring of holly leaves and berries.

_What the…_ Nny saw how ridiculous the gift was. But still, he felt inclined to read the letter. As his eyes scanned the page, his eyes filled with tears.

__

My dearest Nny,

I don't know if you will accept this, but I hope that you do. Holly is a mythic sign of renewal. I read it in a book in a store. I felt it was only right to send you this for Christmas.

I hope that you won't be mad at me for the wrongs I've committed. But I have to tell you.

It's me, Nny. Danni. I've missed you, Nny. But I guess that wasn't to be. Ever since the "event" occurred. 

But I'm past that now. Where I'm going, there isn't any pain or suffering. After I go, you won't even remember me. And if you do, you'll never know it, because I'll be deep in your subconscious. 

I know it will hurt, and it will hurt you too, but I never intended all this madness…never. And we really never understood the consequences of our actions until all is said and done.

So, Nny, I bid you goodbye, my dearest Nny. Forever and always.

Danni

Nny's eyes were red and misty. Danni…she'd been gone for years! Dead and gone! How could she have sent this to him…after what had happened…?

__

Forever and always, Danni…


End file.
